


Born to Die

by dean_chester



Category: Original Works
Genre: Gen, Implied/Referenced Suicide, will update as i create the next chapters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-14
Updated: 2018-10-16
Packaged: 2019-08-02 01:34:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16295765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dean_chester/pseuds/dean_chester
Summary: "Eleanor had not often been one to form bonds. Not as an immortal. Though sometimes, she couldn't help it. By coincidence, or by some string of fate, she had met three others.Immortality allowed them to avoid dying of natural causes. Gifted and cursed them with longevity."





	1. A Chair That Had Been Kicked Aside

> **_1880s_ **

 

Eleanor had not often been one to form bonds. Not as an immortal. Though sometimes, she couldn't help it. By coincidence, or by some string of fate, she had met three others.

 

Immortality allowed them to avoid dying of natural causes. Gifted and cursed them with longevity.

 

Eleanor knew something was wrong with her when her sisters aged faster than she, Julia's pale hair becoming whiter, Monika's face beginning to wrinkle, even Gwendolyn wasn't exempt. Her youngest sister passed on....

 

She shook her head at the memory. It was still fresh. On her eighth—no, on her tenth visit to Gwendolyn's tombstone she'd met another. His name was Oliver. Oliver Jack Marshall. Bastard son of a rich English-woman and some German. He sat on the steps of a manor near the cemetery, clutching a wrinkled letter in his hands as tears stained his pale, freckled cheeks.

She'd seen him before. Bout thirty-some-odd years ago he went to a local Uni before dropping out. Then she saw him working as a bookshop clerk recently. This was the first time Eleanor had officially met him. And he looked alone. He _was_ alone.

 

"Everything alright?" She clenched her jaw. Stupid question. Of course everything wasn't alright.

Oliver had looked up, sniffling and wiping his face with his bare wrist. "..No," He squeaked. His voice was frail.

She approached him, heels clicking on the pavement. He looked up at her.

"I got.. a letter from-from my cousin," He began to explain, lip quivering. "Saying that... that my brothers- half-brothers had–"

Like a window pane shattering, he cracked and fell apart. He held his face in his hands, clenching his fists together. Eleanor knelt down and embraced him. She knew the feeling. Oh, she knew it all too well...

 

...

 

Eleanor took it upon herself to make sure Oliver got back on his feet. She'd discovered his struggles with mental illness. Hereditary. A _true_ curse to an immortal. Eleanor bought and rented books about psychology, digging as far as she could. She always went when Oliver wasn't on shift. She knew his schedule. If he had any idea, he would reject her help. But she was sneaky. Oh, so very sly. Like a fox, but with good intention.

The help was subtle, like sending letters or photographs to his mailbox. She found the best responses came from the ones about dogs or cats or old ruins or even New York City. Oliver was always interested in that place...

She made a bucket list of things she would do with him. Even if she couldn't just wish him to be well, Eleanor would still try to help him. She would still try. Show she cared. Show he wasn't alone, show he still had someone looking out for him. She bought a ticket to Manhattan, they would ride a ship overseas and see America! She was so excited to tell him, only a week and a half away!

 

That's when he began to drift away. He quit his job. He stopped writing to his cousin. Just when he was getting better, something happened to tear it all down. No—No worry! They could just rebuild, try another thing—

 

They never got a chance. She found him in his room, shoes off and on the floor below a chair that had been kicked aside.

 

Immortality allowed them to avoid dying of natural causes. Gifted and cursed them with longevity. Granted them the ability to leave any time they wanted.

 

Eleanor arrived in Manhattan alone.

 


	2. Seven Years Came and Went

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Pah, an immortal dying. Such an oxymoron, yet it was a harsh reality Eleanor had to swallow. It tasted bitter. It tasted like stale blood. It was cold and unforgiving. Whatever God was up there sure enjoyed torturing the select few."

She's in Manhattan. Alone.

 

She takes her time getting off the boat. Eleanor is in no hurry anymore. Maybe she'll finally get a break from the stuffy, gloomy streets littering her home country of England. See some new things, get a new job..

Eleanor landed a job in some fabric or textile factory. Time's left her mind blurry, she wouldn't remember. What she does remember is quitting and switching jobs. It was a way of keeping things fresh. She had nothing else to do.

 

> _**1920s** _

 

The past fourty years have gone by quickly. Eleanor enrolled in some medical school, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory caught fire in 1911, The Great War came and went, and now Eleanor was living in the Roaring Twenties with the right to vote, an apartment to herself, and a medical license.

As usual, she didn't get attached to anybody. Not even a man who tried to court her back in the 1890s. Something peculiar happened on a Thursday night. A rather voluptuous flapper girl had gotten caught in a gang fight— or at least that's what she _said_. Anyways, the woman arrived at Eleanor's doorstep for whatever reason. She'd taken a bullet or two to the arm and explained she was urged by her unnamed friend to get to safety. Eleanor took pity and let her inside.

Lucky for the woman (named Charlotte O. Wolfe, apparently), those years in that old doctor-school weren't for nothing. Charlotte refused to go to a hospital for the same reason that Eleanor quit and applied for so many jobs. Immortal.

Charlotte rambled on and on about her life. How her mother had her out of wedlock, how she's had three fathers within her lifetime, even to how one of her Italian brother-in-laws fancied some Prussian guy with a fancy mustache and how that same Prussian had a half-brother. Turns out, that half-brother was Oliver. Eleanor's heart nearly broke apart. She remembered why she was even in this shit-show of a city.

More time passed. Eleanor was successful in removing whatever bullets were stuck in her body, solidifying their "friendship."

 

...

 

Eleanor tried to stay distant this time. It wouldn't hurt as much if she did and Charlotte so happened to die. Pah, an immortal dying. Such an oxymoron, yet it was a harsh reality Eleanor had to swallow. It tasted bitter. It tasted like stale blood. It was cold and unforgiving. Whatever God was up there sure enjoyed torturing the select few.

The two women grew apart, but five years later Charlotte got (secretly) married to that same friend of hers. Her friend was invited. She swore on whatever life she has to lose to never tell anyone. Why?

Charlotte wanted to marry a colored man. He was rather powerful in the whole scheme of gang issues, but the man was a big sweetheart. Born into something he didn't have control over, but made the best of what he could. Oliver would have liked him... No. She shook her head, half-heartedly praying life would treat Charlotte well. After the makeshift reception, Eleanor didn't speak to her for the next seven years.

 

...

 

Seven years came and went. The stock-market crash hit America hard. The west was just a dustbowl. Cartoons and picture shows were coming up, though,making things a little more tolerable. Until it wasn't. Not for her. She's received news from Charlotte's in-laws that she'd been murdered. There's no clear reason or suspect, but her husband was destroyed.

She broke ties with Charlotte, she grew distant! Why did it still hurt to hear this?! Why?! Why did her mortal husband have to suffer— Why does God play with her?! Why does he find so much joy in tearing apart the things Eleanor finds dear to her...?

 

She never prayed again. She threw out her crosses. She stopped attending Church services. She refused to do or look at anything Holy. God was not on her side, so she won't be on His.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 10/15/18: not extremely proud of this one but it gets the point across


End file.
